Inauguration of the Stefan Banach Scholarship Programme

“Besides knowledge, you will also gain friends, who will hold the highest offices in Poland in 15 to 20 years from now,” said MFA Undersecretary of State Katarzyna Pełczyńska-Nałęcz at the inauguration of a new Stefan Banach Scholarship Programme at the University of Warsaw on 13 December, 2013.

The Stefan Banach Scholarship extends the offer of scholarship programmes for foreigners in Poland. Students from the six Eastern Partnership countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine) can enrol at Polish public universities for two-year Master-degree studiesin the field of science, technical studies, economics and European studies/law. “These study fields are the most important in terms of the development of a state, but also in terms of the development of cooperation between Poland and the Eastern European and the Caucasus countries,” stressed Deputy Minister Pełczyńska-Nałęcz.

During the first year of studies, students enrolled in the programme will be able to participate in the EU’s Erasmus student exchange programme. They will also participate in short-term work placements in Poland.

Polish universities have accepted forty-four students for the first programme in 2013/2014. The greatest number of this year’s grants was awarded to students from Ukraine.

“We are planning to increase the number of students who will receive this grant”, underlined the deputy minister.

The new programme was launched in response to a growing interest in studying in Poland shown by students from the East. The programme is apolitical and is addressed to young people who are studying (who completed bachelor-degree studies) and have outstanding accomplishments in their respective fields of study.

The inauguration ceremony was attended by scholarship holders, representatives of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, and the faculty of the University of Warsaw. The inaugurating lecture on Professor Stefan Banach was delivered by the distinguished Polish mathematician Professor Wiesław Żelazko.